A NEW housing estate with more than 30 properties is set to be built on the site of a farm in Nelson.

Applicants Persimmon Homes want to build thirty new houses and alter two existing farmhouses at Edge End Farm, Edge End Lane, which has been designated a conservation area.

The properties include 13 terraced cottages in front of a restored and extended farmhouse with the rest of the houses detached dwellings next to Edge End Hall.

The applicants say that natural stone and slate will be used to build the houses and the development will not affect protected trees on the site.

The plans will face the scrutiny of Pendle Borough Council's Nelson Committee at a meeting on January 10.

But council planning officer Stan Healey has already given his blessing to the scheme, recommending approval with conditions in a report to councillors.

In his report, he states: "The site is cleared land, former garden areas, two detached dwellings and a stretch of Edge End Lane up to Hibson Road, used until relatively recently as a waste transfer station.

"The proposal retains and extends the dwellings, creates a new access road off Edge End Lane and provides adequate distances for the preservation of protected trees in this Conservation Area location."

Mr Healey says the plans should be approved as the site is previously developed land and the scheme meets highways standards. Outline planning permission was granted in May 2002.

However, the plans have received two objections.

Objectors say the scheme will increase traffic using the junction with Hibson Road and reduce safety for school children who use the Edge End Lane and that a maximum of twenty houses and bungalows should be built.

And Environmental Health have requested that an investigation into on-site contamination is carried out at the former waste transfer station before any building work begins.